On paper, the San Francisco 49ers have had one of the best supporting casts for the past three or four years. But the games are played on a football field, which means you have to stay healthy for the duration of the season.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell went through each team’s supporting cast and ranked them. Heading into 2024, the 49ers were first. Fresh off what they did in 2023, how could you not rank them that high?
Christian McCaffrey went from allegedly being ready for Week 1 to only playing four games
all season. Brandon Aiyuk tore his ACL. Deebo Samuel looked like a shell of himself. The Avengers around Brock Purdy were defeated.
The team lost Samuel, but heading into last season, they were slated to get Aiyuk back. Barnwell had the 49ers ranked fourth heading into the year. In hindsight, that was about 16 spots too high. We never saw Aiyuk. The wide receiver group was supposed to get a boost from Ricky Pearsall, but he was in and out of the lineup. That meant Jauan Jennings was WR1. Based on Jennings still being available months after free agency, that should’ve never been the case.
Barnwell is once again high on the Niners heading into 2026. He has them fifth:
5. San Francisco 49ers
2025 rank: 4 | 2024 rank: 1
Between Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and new addition Mike Evans, the 49ers can call on surefire Hall of Famers at each spot in the lineup for these rankings. The wide receiver room has been overturned, with Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk replaced by Evans, Christian Kirk and second-round pick De’Zhaun Stribling. There’s even the obligatory Kyle Shanahan middle-round pick at running back, with third-round selection Kaelon Black vying to back up McCaffrey this season. Should the 49ers be higher?
Well, how confident are you that you’ll get the typical healthy seasons from all those players? Kittle is coming off a campaign that had already been impacted by hamstring and ankle issues before he tore his right Achilles in the playoffs. Evans was limited to eight games by hamstring and collarbone injuries. McCaffrey was healthy all season, but he has missed significant time in three of the past six campaigns. All three are on the wrong side of 30. And Ricky Pearsall, the team’s second-best wideout, missed nine games with a posterior cruciate ligament injury last season.
OK, but should we be optimistic? Of course! We’re not far removed from McCaffrey, Kittle and Evans all having elite seasons. McCaffrey wasn’t quite as efficient as a runner in 2025 as you might like, but he added 924 receiving yards for his third 2,000-scrimmage-yard season. Kittle already is far along in his rehab, per reports, and might be ready to start the season. Evans’ streak of 1,000-yard seasons might have ended because of injury, but he was incredibly consistent for a decade and was still extremely efficient as recently as 2024. And Pearsall averaged 2.0 yards per route run last season.
There’s a No. 1 playmaker group on paper here, but it requires the new big three in San Francisco to stave off both aging and injury in 2026.
Evans is an upgrade from everybody. Stribling should stretch the field in ways Jauan Jennings couldn’t. Then the hope is that Ricky Pearsall, perhaps in a different role, can withstand the down-to-down physicality week in and week out to stay healthy all season.
The 49ers know what they’re getting from McCaffrey and Kittle. The depth at running back and receiver is better than it’s been in some time. There is speed. You couldn’t say that in the past couple of seasons. Wild cards like Jacob Cowing and Jordan James could be bigger contributors than anticipated, which shouldn’t be viewed as a bad thing.
Is five too high, too low, or just right?
